Over the next few days I’ll be changing the template, working with widgets and adding plugins again. I should have kept a list of plugins but I’m glad that the exporting of blog data and importing worked.

In the absence of a WordPress blog I was using Tumblr as a temporary home. I’ll be keeping Tumblr for quick posts.

Stay tuned for blog posts about Mideastro Yorkville (restaurant), the S. Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef Canada Regional Competition, dinners at The Depanneur, and more.

I’ve got some giveaways as well because, well, my birthday is later this month and I want to GIVE gifts!

Be patient over the next couple of days. You might not notice the construction dust around here but I do.

It’s good to be back.

It’s possible the blog will be affected.

One of my entries from last year

Competition is now open!

Deadline for submissions is January 7th.
This year’s judges: Laura Calder, Jacob Richler, Mia Nielsen, Rob Firing and Jeff Stober.

Categories:

Food
Raw, cooked, vegetable, animal – living in a meadow or sliced and on a plate.
This category is all about food itself.

People
Chefs, farmers, recipe testers, fishermen, winemakers, restaurant reviewers.
This category includes any and all people who deal with food.

Places
Restaurants, barns, gardens, vineyards, fishing boats, home kitchens.
This category is all about where food comes from and is cooked and eaten.

Things
A knife, a cutting board, stockpots, wine glasses.
This category is all about the tools and utensils we use every day with food.

Drinks (new category this year!)
Coffee, beer, soda water, champagne.
This category is all about drinks.

Fun
This is where you send in your not so serious food photography, pictures of food that are informal but still beautiful. This category is where all those Instagram shots you took at the potluck can finally get some respect.

Rules:

• only one picture per category may be entered
• only photos taken in 2011 may be entered
• each picture must have a name/title
• all pictures must be sent as jpeg attachments-Photographers retain ownership of their copyright. The Drake reserves the right to display photos/images at the Awards event and the right to use winning photos in conjunction with post-promotion and PR of any future Food Photography Awards
• please submit photographic entries to ivygknight@gmail.com with “Food Photography Awards 2011″ in the subject line-all entries must be submitted by midnight on January 7, 2012, entries received after that time will not be eligible to compete.

Winners will be announced at The Drake Hotel on January 16, 2o12.

I entered last year. It was fun! Of course I’m going to enter again. I’ve been putting photos aside all year and am looking for more. Check your own collection!

See what else is coming up on Monday nights at The Drake in January:

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, peaceful holiday.

What’s chanukah about anyway? Read the basics:

• Wikipedia
• Chabad’s guide with articles that are shorter than the Wikipedia entry.

Recipes

• Jelly Doughnuts Reinvented: Creative Sufganiyot for Hanukkah [Chow]. Sufganiyot with ginger-lime curd? Salted caramel? Mexican hot chocolate–glazed sufganiyot with marshmallow filling? Okay!

• Jewish Girl Guilt Sufganiyot [Huffington Post]

• Healthy Hanukkah? Yes, It’s Possible [The Jew and the Carrot]

• The Complete, No-Nonsense, Slightly Neurotic Guide to Making Great Latkes [Serious Eats]

• Jewish fried treats from around the world. Eight distinct specialties to try, one for each night. [Philadelphia Jewish Voice]

• Moroccan Chanukah orange doughnuts (sfenj) and fried plantains (called patacones) [be'chol Lashon]

• Vegan latke recipe from vegan poster child Alicia Silverstone on her website The Kind Life.

Other resources

• Healthy, Sustainable Hanukkah Resources [Hazon]

• With Hanukkah Microbrews, A Taste of Jewish History [NPR]

Also check out The Huffington Post’s articles tagged “hanukkah”.

Feel free to add your favourite resources and such.

I leave you with this:

HAPPY CHANUKAH! MAY YOUR WEEK BE FILLED WITH BLESSINGS AND LIGHT, MAY YOUR LATKES BE THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM AND MAY YOU EAT WELL.

(Part 3 of my holiday gift guide to follow.)

This Saturday, December 10, 2-6pm, it’s Slow Food Toronto’s Terra Madre Day at Harbourfront Centre!

Click for full size PDF

Slow Food Toronto’s Terra Madre Day is a celebration of local foods and their producers by the Slow Food international network. The network promotes food that is good, clean and fair and acknowledges the importance of the regions, cultures and communities working to protect and develop it.

The event offers a wide variety of free family-friendly activities enabling visitors to not only sample delicious local food prepared by producers and top Toronto chefs, but also engage with Ontario’s local food communities and celebrate a local perspective. Meet farmers, fishers, chefs and food artisans and stock up on supplies and gifts for the holiday season at the Local Food Market. Learn to make informed food choices and connect with the local food community through a variety of workshops. Check out storytelling, dance and live music performances.

Event highlights:

• Interactive workshops. Make dumplings with Spice Route’s Executive Chef, Win Lai Wong; grind your own tortillas using bike-pedal-power with Chocosol; make fresh cheese with the folks from Monforte Dairy and experience sensory overload to enhance your food experience.
• Watch the 100-mile diet in action with a food demo from Chef Robin Pradhan. The man behind acclaimed restaurant Rocky Raccoon Café and finalist in Harbourfront Centre’s Longo Iron Chef Competition will be letting audiences in on his Cream of Organic Oysters and Shitaki Mushroom Soup recipe.
• Live performances: Appalachian old-time music (Sheesham and Lotus); the vocal music of the Georgian Republic (Zavi), Senegalese kora and percussion (Sadio Sissokho), Balkan Judeo-Spanish music (Adjuntaremos) and Afro-Braillian dance (Dance Migration).
• A range of food artisans at the Local Food Market, where vendors ranging from restauranteurs, farmers, cheesemakers, chocolatiers, fishers and more ply their wares.

Participating Vendors:

Evelyn’s Crackers, Monforte Dairy, Pfenning’s Organic Farm, Chocosol Chocolate Traders, Dolece Lucano Inc., 100km Foods Inc., The New Farm, Loic Gourmet, Warner’s Farm, ,Grassroot Organics, Akiwenzie Fish and More, Local Dairy Foods, Pristine Gourmet,
Mycosource Inc./Fun Guy Farms, Matchbox Garden and Seed Co and Jason Inniss Catering, Mapleton’s Organic, Forbes Wild Foods, Spice Route, Best Baa Dairy, Hey Meatball!, Table 17, Le Select Bistro featuring YU Ranch Beef, Cherryvale Organic Farm, Frank Restaurant, Vertical, Chef School Preserves Ontario – George Brown College, The Cutting Veg, Urban Harvest, Cooper Road CSA, Hidden Meadows Farm, Ontario Land Trust, Local Food Plus, Woodlot Bakery, Magic Oven, Culinarium featuring Kernal Peanuts, Toorshi Pickles, Ying Yang Soy Food.

When: Saturday, December 10, 2011 – 2:00 to 6:00pm
Where: Harbourfront Centre – 235 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto – MAP
Cost: FREE

Read more at the Slow Food Toronto website.

“The Gardens”, as we locals call it, was built in 1931, constructed in a little over 5 months. From 1931–1999 it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Growing up I didn’t attend hockey games. We were a baseball family, first with season’s tickets to the Toronto Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium, then at the Skydome (now called The Rogers Centre) for a number of years. In fact, it was only in the last five years when I went to my first hockey game, at the Air Canada Centre. The Gardens also hosted other sports leagues over the years. A concert venue, Wikipedia says that it was also one of the few venues outside of the U.S. where Elvis performed. I only went to Maple Leaf Gardens once before it closed down, when I was in high school and went to see Neil Young with Crazy Horse.

For years after the Leafs left for the ACC there was talk about what to do with the building. Owners Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. refused to sell Maple Leaf Gardens to anyone who proposed to use it as an arena in competition with the Air Canada Centre. Loblaws, Canada’s largest food retailer, purchased the Gardens in 2004. They originally intended to convert the interior to accommodate a Real Canadian Superstore with parking. I remember this because I was living in the neighbourhood at the time and remember a sign outside saying something like, “Our baker has been given a time out for icing.”, with Superstore logo. Then the signs were taken down and the building continued to remain abandoned. It took years for the supermarket to be built.

When the Superstore announcement was made there was criticism that the conversion of the building to retail uses diminished its heritage value, and that Maple Leaf Gardens should continue to serve as an arena in accordance with its rich history and traditions. Others argued that the structure had been deteriorating for years, and that its ongoing use for minor league sports and events would not generate sufficient income to secure the building’s preservation and restoration. In 2008 and 2009 some events were held there. Over the years movies and television shows were shot there. I remember seeing Dan Aykroyd outside the building on my way home from work once.

In September 2009, Loblaws announced it had entered into discussions with Ryerson University regarding the possible future joint use of the arena. Subsequently, construction began to convert the arena into a Loblaws grocery store and Ryerson University athletic centre. After many delays including finding a creek running though the basement (!) and a time capsule (!) the new Loblaws store opened last week, on November 30, 2011. So, now it’s Loblaws’ new flagship store (or as I called it as a young child, “Bloblaws”, kind of like “Bob Loblaw” from TV’s Arrested Development).

I didn’t go to the grand opening on the first day. I couldn’t make it to the blogger event after work due to previous commitment, it wasn’t particularly convenient during the day, and I have no interest in going to a crowded store earlier in the day just to be “the first”. While listening to the radio in the morning I heard about the lineup to get in for the 8am opening. At 7am there were already 250 people. The first person in line had been there all night. It’s almost as if Elvis was performing again – back from the dead.

I heard that there was a whole lot of sampling going on during the first day. There was also some sampling on day two when I went.  I was in the neighbourhood, it was convenient. Owner Galen Weston was there.

Drunken goat cheese

I watched as a line of people 18 deep waited patiently for what looked like samples of mini peameal bacon on a bun.  I sampled some orange juice and was told that they’ll juice virtually any fruit from the produce section upon request. I ran into a friend who works in a mid-town restaurant kitchen and said she was back for the second time in two days. Then she urged me to sniff her cheese, “drunken goat cheese”, which is a firm cheese washed and soaked in red wine. Intriguing.

The wall o’ cheese, an 18-foot-tall fridge that showcases 400 varieties, really is impressive. Cheese is available by full wheel, half wheel or chunk and can be cut to desired size. It’s part of a 85,000-square-foot store with an enormous amount of features.

Ace Bakery has a full factory within the space that will function as a testing ground for new products intended to roll out to other stores. A 2,000-square-foot kitchen creates everything for the ready-made counters and overlooks the produce sections below.  There is a bakery for breads of all kinds but also a patisserie for cupcakes, cakes, handcrafted chocolate that chiseled from a giant block of chocolate, and more.

There’s a butcher and a meat counter, charcuterie hanging from one. A Tea Emporium counter has tea needs covered. There’s a gelato counter that of course claims to be “best in town” (most gelato places seem to make that claim). Upstairs there’s an LCBO outlet and a 8,500 square foot Joe Fresh outlet.

There’s also free WiFi and tables to sit at if you want to stay and eat your prepared take out meal. It kind of reminds me of Longo’s at Maple Leaf Square but more corporate. Not that Longo’s isn’t corporate, it was the feeling I got when I visited the stores. One of the employees mentioned to me that most of the products that this Loblaw’s carries are their own President’s Choice line, and many of the remaining products are owned by the Westons.

The place is beautiful. Little remains of the old Gardens. I forgot to get a photo of the  3D sculpture created from reclaimed stadium chairs in the shape of a Maple Leaf. The old Centre Ice is aisle 25, next to the spam. A red dot on the floor marks the spot. Murals provide an homage to the building’s history.

The store serves a potential market of about 100,000 people, who live in the area, and another 25,000 to 30,000 workers in the surrounding office towers and retail outlets. I wish it was there when I lived near the neighbourhood. My options were limited.

The new Maple Leaf Gardens is worth checking out. After I left I took a peek through an ajar door that was part of the building and not the store. Ryerson University’s new athletic centre is still in progress.

Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens
60 Carlton Street (at Church St.)
Hours: Monday – Sunday 7 a.m to 11 p.m

I took more photos than are here but if you really want good photos, click the link to the Globe and Mail’s photos, below. I only had the camera on my phone because the store visit wasn’t planned.

Sources

• Wikipedia entry
• Loblaws promo material
• Other miscellaneous websites.

Related articles

• Maple Leaf Gardens reopens as gourmet grocery – ctv.ca
• New Loblaws unveiled at Maple Leaf Gardens – BlogTO.com
• The changing face of the Maple Leaf Gardens marquee  – A history piece from BlogTO.com
• Maple Leaf Gardens: From shrine to supermarket – Toronto Star
• Hume: New Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens offers food for thought – by Christopher Hume, the Toronto Star’s Urban Issues, Architecture columnist.
• A new era for Maple Leaf Gardens (Photos) – The Globe and Mail
• Introducing: Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens, downtown’s enormous new food emporium – Toronto Life

Thanks to my friend Ryan for the link and for tagging me on Facebook when he shared it.

The tamper is built so that it can’t get caught in the blades. When inserted through the hole in the lid the ring near the top stops it. It’s supposed to keep people from putting spoons in there.

I rarely need to use my tamper. Sometimes when I need to use it I contemplate using a spoon, but I don’t because I don’t want to get it caught in the blades, naturally.

Then this morning while making my smoothie I did this:
I didn’t think the spoon would go low enough to hit the blades. I was wrong.

I will never do that again.

All was not lost. Rather than dump the entire thing I strained it through a nut milk bag, aka nut sack, that I bought from Meghan Telpner. The result: Juice.

Lesson learned.

Coincidentally, after this happened and I decided to write about it, I saw Meghan’s blog post from yesterday. It was about Vitamix. Meghan’s got a number of incentives for you to buy one. Meghan says,

Get Your Blend On Super Incentive Offer!

1. Order your Vitamix by clicking on of the links on my site or by calling them directly.
2. Get $35 off! A coupon code should be automatically added to your order form, or mention it on the phone and receive $35 off your order (Coupon: 06-003920)
3. Send a copy of your order receipt to hello (at) meghantelpner (dot) com and my lovely assistant director, Maeve will send you a gift!
4. Buy a Vitamix between now and December 15th and you will receive the Super Healthy Power Package (valued at $49.99) for free
5. Offer valid until December 15th, 2011

…But whatever you do, don’t use a spoon as a tamper!

Words of warning, because I was afraid that I came off as an idiot:

• I’d just gotten over a cold.
• We filmed on Thursday. Every night since Sunday I’d had trouble falling and staying asleep. Some of those nights I went to bed earlier, sometimes later, but for no night that entire week did I get enough sleep. This makes Andrea a tired girl, a giddy girl, a clumsy girl, and with memory problems.
• I kept starting to talk about things but not remembering details and facts.

It went up on Vimeo early last week. I didn’t get around to watching it until the weekend. It actually amuses me.

Here’s an in progress list of links of places, things & people that we discussed:

Events

• Foodstock (sign the petition to stop the mega quarry!)
• My blog posts about Foodstock. Here’s the one that talks about the cause, with details I couldn’t recall while filming the show.
• The Big Give
• Mount Sinai Chef’s Challenge
• The Delicious Food Show

Hunting:

• Ministry of Natural Resources, hunting section.

Books

• Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast

Misc

• Chef Matt Kantor. He did a cooking demo at the Delicious Food Show, is co-founder of the Secret Pickle Supper Club, does private catering / personal chef work and hosts a number of dinners around town.